Wandering Travelers
by FantasySpark
Summary: An AU set in the earlier days of the outside world, where the magician Marisa Kirisame runs into a group of travelers, who lured her by their song. The three don't seem very suspicious to her, not until night comes, that is... (This story will be played by ear, and is subject to plot change. Also, the title may change due to that.)


**Hey, everyone! I haven't been here in forever, have I? Yeah, I lost inspiration for a while... but I have this! A little AU I thought up after hearing an amazing theme arrangement for U.N. Owen was her?, try looking up 'Touhou Unplugged/Classic 1' on Youtube and you should find it. For now, I just want to post it up here, and see if I should continue. If I do, expect extremely inconsistent updates though.**

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><p>"Aah, just a little more to go." came the voice of a girl, deep in the confines of a forest. She pulled her large hat right over her messy blonde hair to cover her eyes and gave a little grin as she navigated through the bunches of tree roots. This girl, was Marisa Kirisame. A wanna-be magician, looking for a big adventure. And through that maze of trees would she soon find one. But that's beyond the point, at the moment this girl spent her time slowly dodging roots one after the other. In the ancient forest, some were so tall they would poke her eyes out, some were so hidden that you would suddenly break your ankle on them and you wouldn't know why. Some were just the right size to smack you in the stomach and make you cough up last night's dinner. But this didn't bother her at all. Nope, not one bit. But at least she had the right amount of sense to be slow and steady while tackling this challenge. She had done pretty well so far, maybe getting a few cuts and bruises here and there, but nothing too serious. But everything really got hard once she saw the last one. Now if that wasn't a hole small enough to fit only her bag through at the most, it was an impossible feat. Even for someone as reckless as her.<br>"That's quite a stretch..." she sighed, rubbing her chin. "Well, I can't really go under or through at this point... guess I gotta go over!" with no second thought, she sprinted at the thing, hopping onto it and barely grabbing the smooth, rounded top of the trunk. Her hands were steadily slipping, so with haste she pushed the rest of her body up with her strong legs, not thinking about what she would do once she got over. To be quite frank, the top wasn't enough space to have a picnic on, she fell right over the edge, breaking her fall and most likely something else as she was thrown into a bush, which looked seemingly comfortable except for the roots hidden underneath. A yelp came from the girl as she lay there for a minute or two, recovering from the shock, and then grinning a bit to herself. It may seem crazy, but she was just laughing at her own stupidity. She pulled herself up with the arm she didn't fall on, and then tried to reach for her pocket. That was a bad idea, immediately a surge of pain shot straight up her other arm, making it so painful that she stood frozen as she waited for the pain to die down. Finally when it turned from hellfire to just a irritating throb she sighed, letting out the breath she was holding in for almost a full two minutes. She didn't move her arm again of course, but suspected that it was in pretty bad shape. Maybe broken, even. She didn't know, but thought that she could maybe patch it up. She's seen people do it all the time, what makes it any different if she does it? So she took slow steps, careful not to move her arm as she saw a little tree branch, probably having just fallen off not too long ago. "Perfect." she muttered under her breath as she grabbed it. With that she shut her eyes, as the stick bent in her arms by ways of magic, becoming completely straight. Then she set that down, proceeding to rip a few strips of fabric from her already dirt-covered dress. A little bit of tying here and there, and voila! The magician improvised, taking the advice to keep her arm straight at all times. With that she thought things would be a bit harder to get done in her journey, but it'll heal eventually. For having a possibly broken arm, the magician wasn't as shocked as she should have been. But of course, that's just how Marisa worked. So with that, she continued, having luckily beat past the roots and into lighter forest area. A few times did she slip up, and bump her arm. And a few times did she swear along with it. Only minutes after bumping her arm the seventh time, did she hear something after a series of swearing. Not the shake of a bush from wind, not the sound of steps along the crisp green grass. Not even the sound of a critter climbing up a tree, leaving deep scratches behind. No, this was a sweet and slow sound. A soothing melody she heard, lingering about the forest. It was obvious that this source came from that of a stringed-instrument, though which one Marisa could not tell. She could only assume it came from the ancient family of guitars. But that was beyond the point, she quickly tried to find the source, maybe she was nearing closer to her destination. Soon she made it out of the forest, and found was seemed to be a narrow rocky cliff. One more step and this story would not have even been written, due it's short and bitter end. She wiped the sweat from her brow and let out a sigh as she looked down. It certainly wasn't a pretty place to end up. But that was beyond the point, now the instrument was becoming clearer, and she even heard a second one, adding to the melody. So she went down the little rocky path, cautiously yet with haste. Before long she found a large rock in the path, creating a little extra space and a few trees surrounding it. She got closer, but not close enough to be seen as she saw three people sitting there.  
>All of them dressed in European-styled rags, one with blonde hair, the other sky-blue, and the last one silver. The blonde one was the main musician, playing a melody much louder than that of the other two. The sky-blue one held the same instrument the blonde had, maybe a few parts varied here and there, but very similar. She of course added onto the melody, and the last one sat there, waiting. Marisa enjoyed the two's performance, and once they hit a certain part the silver straightened up, playing on bagpipes and carrying the melody in a very beautiful way. The magician stood and watched, surprised at how much three could do. Even when it did seem the blonde had the upper-hand, the three all had to rely on each other to make the piece come together like this. After a few minutes the three instruments slowly died out, the sky-blue one finishing last. With that, the blonde looked up from the strings, and in Marisa's direction.<br>"It seems we have a visitor." she smiled. Well, there was no point in hiding, Marisa walked out into plain view.  
>"You caught me." she said, hands in the air. The blonde giggled as the other two just stared, the sliver-haired looking more welcome than the other.<br>"So you've heard our little tune, even?"  
>"Yeah, the whole thing. And I have to say, you're all pretty amazing! That was something else."<br>"All it takes is a little practice, my friend." she said, her fingers quietly dancing along the strings. "So what bring you here, of all places?"  
>"Your tune. I was headed to some city up ahead, but it seems I took a wrong turn here or there. I thought maybe finding the source of that melody you played would help."<br>"Ah, I see. And by 'the city up ahead' are you referring to Strigoi?"  
>"Yeah, that's the one, I just forgot the name..."<br>"Well, fancy that! We as well are headed to the city." she said, placing her instrument down softly, and wrapping it in cloth. The blue-haired one was polishing her own as well. "But traveling at this time is a bit of a hassle, no? It's quite dark."  
>"Yeah, I hear ya. I might settle down somewhere, sooner or later." she huffed, scratching her head.<br>"It's as good a time as any to do so right now, is it not?" she asked, stuffing away her things. "I wouldn't suggest the forest to find shelter in... as beautiful as it during the day it's not safe for humans. I'm sure you know how dangerous youkai can be."  
>"Geez, looks like I'm stuck..."<br>"Well, I invite you to rest about here. We're going the same way after all."  
>"Flan, are you sure about this?" the blue-haired one finally spoke.<br>"Yes, I'm sure she can't do any harm." she looked to Marisa who jumped a bit.  
>"Yeah, no way! The offer is plenty nice, I have no reason to do anything like that!" she said quickly. The girl kept her stare locked on for a split second more, and Marisa noticed her bright scarlet eyes. It made her wonder just what in the hell was up with that girl. Then she looked back to the blue-haired one with a smile.<br>"See look, Miss Marisa won't do anything." at that very second Marisa was shocked out of her mind.  
>"Hey... h-how'd you know my name?"<br>"Hmm?" everyone then looked at Flandre, who tilted her head a bit. "Good question, did you not mention it once or twice anytime earlier?"  
>"No, not at all..."<br>"Huh, well it seems I've gotten lucky." she smiled, standing up. Even at full height, the blonde proved to be shorter than the magician, almost having the looks of just a child. "As for my own name, I am Flandre. This is my sister, Remilia." she said, gesturing towards the blue-haired one. "And this is Sakuya." the silvered-haired one looked up from her bagpipes and nodded with a smile.  
>"Well, it's nice to meet ya." Marisa said, a tip of her giant hat.<br>"It's nice to meet you as well Marisa." she smiled. The other two didn't respond really and instead conversed among themselves, so Flandre let out a bit of a nervous laugh and took hold of the magician's arm. Luckily it wasn't the injured one. But either way, Marisa flinched at the feeling of Flandre's ice cold skin, who then looked her in the eye. "You can take a set anywhere, really." Marisa nodded as Flandre walked over to her sister and Sakuya, sitting down on their right. Marisa sat down next to Flandre, and all was silent. Flandre gazed up into the sky, as Remilia stretched and Sakuya put away her bagpipes.  
>"Is it always this quiet?" the magician inquired. Just then Flandre snapped out of her daze, looking to the magician.<br>"Well, it can be sometimes. Nature is a beautiful thing, sometimes best when silent." she sighed.  
>"Yeah, a lot of people don't pay attention to that type of stuff anymore."Just then Flandre nodded and stood up, walking over to a pile of sticks they were gathered around, which Marisa hadn't noticed. Marisa couldn't see in front of the girl's cloak as she bent down in front of it, but sooner or later after a bit of a scraping sound there was a sudden blaze, and the girl was forced to step back before she caught fire as well.<br>"Were you cold before, magician?" she asked Marisa as she sat down again.  
>"Meh, I'm used to both freezing and burning temperatures, it wasn't too much of a bother."<br>"I see. I'm more used to cold temperatures, but I can't say the same for everyone." as she said that, Marisa glanced up. Darkness had draped itself over the forest-like cliff they were gathered on, nighttime had come awfully quick. The fire made for very good light as well, Marisa could almost see the torch lights of the far-off city there were headed to from there. There was a bit of silence in between, so Remilia intervened with a question.  
>"Say magician, what compelled you to travel towards Strigoi through this forest? I'm sure there were easier, but maybe rockier paths to take." she pointed out.<br>"Well, I liked taking this path, honestly. The forest is always nice, and the instruction I were given said nothing about other paths."  
>"Sounds like they didn't know much about the vast population of youkai around here-" her eyes widened and she bent over a bit, shaking. Flandre noticed that and gasped.<br>"Onee-sama...!" Remilia growled a bit and tensed up, revealing her sharp fangs which had always been there, but barely noticeable. And out of the back of her cloak did something began to bulge. Two things, more or less. The cloak was long enough to keep those two hidden, until they burst forth from her back, stretching and getting bigger. The giant black object began to flap about and reveal themselves, a pair of bat wings. The blue-haired groaned in pain, and Flandre sighed as Marisa started in horror. "It looks like we didn't have enough time to explain ourselves." the girl turned and looked the magician right in the eyes. "We're vampires."

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><p><strong>I worry that some of my writing may not be clear enough at times and doesn't explain the situation thoroughly, since it's a AU. If it doesn't, don't be afraid to tell me!<strong>


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